


Ice

by wingsofthenight



Category: Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Genre: F/M, Ishtar lives AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 07:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11687088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingsofthenight/pseuds/wingsofthenight
Summary: "She couldn’t keep her mind from wandering to the contrasts between this time and the times when she had been in a garden with someone else."Or, Ishtar inadvertently ends up thinking about the contrasts between the past and the present.





	Ice

**Author's Note:**

> For Fire Emblem Rarepair Week.
> 
> If you're curious this isn't actually that much of a crack pairing thanks to the Oosawa manga. Basically Ishtar and Sety end up meeting in Manster and sort of end up working together to keep Thracia and the Lopto Sect away. (Which is actually pretty plausible in game if you think about it.) I won't say that much more than that since you guys should (suffer) see on your own, but I am planning on writing a multi-chapter fic of Ishtar surviving post war and which will have flashbacks to some events.
> 
> Also, if you're curious on how she survived, Sety just silenced her and she ended up getting captured. Which is actually possible in game. Getting silenced I mean. And if you consider how Thracia has the capturing system...
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

One of the worst things about Silesia was the lack of seasons outside of a short summer and a long winter. However, regardless of the fact that it had snowed into the early hours of the morning, Ishtar had bundled up and ventured out into the courtyard.

Freege was fairly far north in Grandbell, so cold winters and snow weren’t completely foreign to her even if she had been discouraged from going outside too much (it would not do to have the heir to the Tordo lineage catch a cold, she had heard far too many times), but having been mainly in Manster hadn’t done her too many favors. The rest of the time she had been in Barhara castle, which would normally have some storms during the winter, but it seemed like even the weather wanted nothing to do with that place.

Just thinking about the cold seemed to let it past her cloak, and she shivered as she pulled it tighter around her before sitting down on a bench. Regardless of the weather, she had no intention of going back in to all of those rumors flying around.

To be honest, they weren’t even the kind of rumors she had expected. She had expected vitriol from every corner, regardless of the fact that she was here on invitation from the king himself. There had been some, yes, but nowhere near as judgmental as what she had braced herself for. Early on there had been whispers of how she had fought against the Liberation Army, how she was the spawn of one of the worst women in the history of Jugdral, and how she had been in the bed of the imperial prince and was carrying his child and would set him on the world in revenge. Thankfully that last one went away within the month. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see Sety’s reaction of he had found out about that one.

However, somehow her work in trying to save the children from those despicable hunts had reached here, and her general kindness to the people had traveled as well. She’d question if Sety was behind it, but with some of these people she doubted he would be the only one. Now the rumors had taken a slightly different turn however.

She wasn’t going to deny that there was some truth to these ones. In fact, she wouldn’t be too surprised if a couple years from now they came to fruition. The thing that bothered her about them weren’t the rumors themselves, it the fact that she wasn’t anywhere near ready for it. The war had just ended a few months ago, she was still grieving for those she had lost, and maybe it was selfish of her when the people were hurting as well and might be helped by this, but she couldn’t take that step right now.

“Ishtar? What are you doing out here?”

She turned her head to see Sety coming towards her. (She noticed that he had nowhere near as many layers on as she did. It was at least slightly understandable considering that he grew up here, so she didn’t have that much of a reason to be jealous. Then again, she saw most others bundle up at least a little more than he does. Is he really that used to the cold or is he just completely ignoring it? If the latter is the case then she really needed to find some way to make him stop and soon…)

She mentally shook her head, pushing the thought to the back of her mind to examine later. “I’m fine.” Well, fine as she could be at least, considering everything. “I just… needed some time out of the castle,” she finished, hoping he hadn’t noticed her stumbling over what to say.

Her hopes didn’t come to fruition and he did. He seemed to hesitate before gesturing to the space next to her and asking, “May I?” She nodded.

They sat in silence for some time. It was actually extremely calming. She didn’t want to say anything and he didn’t want to push her to, assuming he could find the words to ask.

She couldn’t keep her mind from wandering to the contrasts between this time and the times when she had been in a garden with someone else. Then she had been dragged around, keeping mostly silent while the other had talked about everything in the garden in an attempt to keep her mind off of the things she had heard in a meeting.

Here, they sat in silence, though looking back it was far more comfortable than having the air filled with meaningless words. He also wasn’t trying to lead her anywhere, instead just keeping her company and not making a move except for occasionally sifting position to keep his limbs from falling asleep. And when he had first shown her the garden not too long after they had arrived here, he had let her go through at her own pace.

At times, she despised thinking about these things. They made her question why she had taken the path she did, why she had tried her best to ignore the blatant signs in front of her, why she thought she had still been in-

_No._ She refused to let that thought continue. One day she would have to and that day probably couldn’t come soon enough, but she refused to let it be when she was in the middle of a courtyard where someone could witness it.

For once she was almost thankful for the gust of wind that came and jolted her out of her thoughts as she shivered from the cold. As she did, she happened to turn her head just enough to see what looked like her friend shivering as well, causing her to immediately eye him. “…why did you come out here in such thin layers?”

She noticed his eyes dart away from her before saying, “Don’t need them. I’m fine.”

She stared at him for a few seconds longer, not really expecting him to retract his obvious lie but wishing he would, before shaking her head, a small smile coming to her face despite herself. “You can just admit you’re cold. I am not going to deny that I am”

“I am not.”

She couldn’t stop the snicker that came out of her mouth. He almost sounded like a petulant child when saying those simple words.

(Was it just her imagination or did she see him smile a bit when she did?)

“I’m going inside,” she announced, standing up and turning her body to fully face him. “And you’re coming with me. I don’t care what you have to do, we are going to warm up in front of the fire for at least a few minutes. Do you understand?”

He looked like he was about to protest, but the look she gave him must have been enough to silence his protests considering how he just nodded and walked back to the castle with her.

She fought to keep the smirk off her face, but considering how she had just found out exactly how to keep him from inadvertently causing him to neglect himself, it was a bit hard to do so. She hoped he didn’t see the couple of times she had slipped up and let it show.


End file.
